Hard Magic

Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 16 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award, Paranormal, 2012

Jake Sullivan is a licensed private eye with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It's no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who has been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree.

Problems arise when Jake discovers the bad girl behind the robberies is an old friend, and he happens to know her magic is just as powerful as his. And the Feds have plunged Jake into a secret battle between powerful cartels of magic-users - a cartel whose ruthless leaders have decided that Jake is far too dangerous to live.

©2011 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Great Mix of Urban Fantasy and Alternative History

Book: I *loved* this book. The characters were varied, engaging, and relatable for me. I frequently found my emotions surging to match the emotions of the "good guys" and know that I probably responded to the different elements of the book in exactly the way the author wanted. Also, I thought that the author did an excellent job of reimagining how real historical events and people would have been changed and affected by the sudden existence of magic. I'm not too keen on the author's explanation of where magic originated, but I did greatly approve of his explanation of how magic worked. All-in-all, I greatly enjoyed this story, and promptly bought the sequel after I finished this one.

Narrator: Yay for the narrator! Good choice! Mr. Pinchot did an excellent job of making each and ever character unique in both voice and thought. This book has a lot of point-of-view changes, and with each change, the narrator altered his voice to correspond to the correct character. He had a wide range of different accents that I greatly enjoyed. And he did a good job of making his girls actually sound like girls despite the fact that he had a fairly deep voice, himself. Honestly, I truly believe that the skillful narration of this book is what made me love the story so much.

Overall: If you like the Dresden Files, I think you'd like this series. And if you just like urban fantasy and have an appreciation for historical trivia, I think you'd like this series. And if you're going to indulge yourself with this story, I recommend listening to the audio book because the narrator was great.

A great listen

I'm a huge Larry Correia fan and I think Bronson Pinchot does a great reading. My only issue is do a little research before your narrative, .50 is 50 caliber not 50 mm. One is the size of your thumb the other is closer to your wrist size.

Should be a movie

Didn't know what to expect but saw on sale and gave it a go. Bit slow on the start but wow. I wish they made this book into a movie or TV show would watch it all day long.

Surprising good with amazing naration

A book bought on special, and what a deal it was. I have many unread ( listened to) books that sit in my library and gather dust. This is one of them that caught my attention enough to buy but not to actually listen to. Well maybe that is why I have been so amazed by it. Bronson Pinchot grew on me. I though to start with that his pace was rather slow and drawn out, yet as the story unfolds and we meet the cast it proves that he has it pitch perfect. The story is fantasy, so a little unbelievable, but still enthralling and engaging. Fanatic book all round. Thank god the 2nd book was on special too, I am looking forward to it, and it wont gather much more dust!!

You mugs'll love this!

This book was great! It does a wonderful job of recreating the charm and atmosphere of 1930's America without the cliche. Correia's characters live and breathe through Pinchot's great performance. Even being familiar with the actor for ages, I forgot whom I was listening to and enjoyed the story as if the characters themselves were living it out in my ears. The story is engaging and I found myself enthralled with the way the world and the magic work in this alternate history.

As soon as I finished this one I bought and downloaded the second one. I can't wait to continue the tale! Highly recommended.

Excellent! "Mistborn" meets "heroes" in 1930s

If you could sum up Hard Magic in three words, what would they be?

Action-packed, excitement, magic.

What other book might you compare Hard Magic to and why?

mistborn series by sanderson.

Which character – as performed by Bronson Pinchot – was your favorite?

Jake Sullivan

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed a few times

Any additional comments?

I was hesitant to start these, but very glad I did.

I expected to hate it, but I loved the whole thing

My antipathy toward the time period ('20s and '30s plus the added sin of alternative history) would normally prevent me from even picking this up.

A strong recommendation from a friend, and the quality of Larry's other work, induced me to give it a try. Needless to say, I'll be listening to all the rest of the series, too.

I might still have successfully hated the book if not for Bronson's extraordinary characterization (combined with Larry's skill at creating very sympathetic heroes). I'll definitely give any book Bronson narrates the benefit of the doubt in the future.

Good story. Great voice acting.

This is a good story. The writing is average, but the storytelling (which is more important) is done well. The voice acting by Pinchot is fantastic.

A great story and reading!

I still remember Bronson Pinchot from Perfect Strangers but this performance really shows how diverse his acting can be.

The characters are interesting and enduring - the story is really enjoyable overall!

Magic in the Great Depression???

What made the experience of listening to Hard Magic the most enjoyable?

I will admit that I was looking for a Steampunk novel, and this caught my attention because of the mix of magic and technology. I was more than surprised at how good the book was. while not Steampunk in a traditional sense, this was absolutle amazing

What was one of the most memorable moments of Hard Magic?

The final battal was likely the most memorable, with the heroes jumping around dirigibles while swords are flashing and guns blazing with a storm in the background

What about Bronson Pinchot’s performance did you like?

He really brought the characters to life, I will admit I was initially annoyed by how he portrayed the hero as slow and dim witted in speech; until you realize that the main character does that on purpose (descriped later in the book) to make others underestimate him. Turned out to be right on target

Any additional comments?

This book is more than worth the time to read, the performance is great and the story is top notch.